Preparing to Go!
No cruise just happens. “Happening” varies yacht to yacht, finance and inclination. Sahula is kept simple. Too simple for those who appreciate water heaters and makers, hot showers, air-conditioning. All the accoutrements of home. “Cruising is doing maintenance in beautiful places.” On Sahula it is less so. Sahula is returned to a marina berth after a winter ashore. Winter preparations (two low power heaters, chemical absorption pads) ensured no mould or condensation. Bottom painted she returns to her natural element.
Fog, intense North Sea and coastal shipping and prizing a skilled marine electrician, convince Skipper to install an AIS receiver screen (shows ships over 300 tonnes and voluntary smaller vessels on collision course or in vicinity – backs up Radar)and new VHF with DSC emergency button (distressed vessels automatically register with digital shore rescue stations for assistance).
Sahula “nemesis” is a red electrical spaghetti of wires that powered various switches. It is gone. Bags of wire are binned. A new panel (circuit breakers) replaces years of frustration. A standby VHF aerial connection wire ensures that without a main mast aerial (present VHF aerial), operative radio will continue using the AIS VHF gantry aerial. The clean out continues in lockers and crannies. Many years of excess. Seemingly impossible amounts are binned.
Sahula is ready, fresh water and fuel tanks are topped.
Not so the fuel tanks. Algae like growth bodes ill. Fuel was last taken on in Holland. EU fuel has organic additives which allegedly harbour “bugs.” “I know a fellow. He did my yacht tanks.” The “fellow” agrees to “fix the job” on Wednesday. Skipper’s task is to open the main keel tank. A deep low delays departure in any event. Providence shines.
“You can’t get blood out of a stone” becomes “can you get “bugs” out of diesel. Wasted diesel, finances hurts deep.
Sails are checked and sewn, radar reflector mounted. Many small tasks move forward to countdown. A second backup anchor is stored forward. A new “Kindle 3G touch” is it test mode. It may eliminate storing books.
The list seems no shorter, nevertheless, inside space increases. “You’ve tidied the boat!”
“Aldi” store yields bulk supplies. Customers edge away from the overfull cart. The tinned, dried and various, fill lockers. Six months supplies seem impossible. Sahula will sail weighed with full spaces.
Peter will crew to Scotland. The Marina notice board calls for subsequent crew to Bergen. Two applicants (male, young) appear well qualified (certificates abound). “I need sea time, it is an adventure.” Previously, Sahula has always taken on friends and family.
There is a point where more can be done but it is time.
Weather alone determines events. “April is always awful – it will clear, you’ll have a great cruise” – Skipper remains the eternal optimist. A cruise achieved is a past event. A cruise is a cruise, is a cruise. Whim, weather and the unknown require “cuts to the cloth.” With time determined by seasons, Sahula has till September.
Next Report: Up the East Coast, Ipswich to Scotland.
Best David
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